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International human rights law, along with national policy, guides and constrains how British armed forces plan, coordinate and conduct operations during armed conflict. The relationship between the demands of the mission and the rules governing military practice has been and remains at the forefront of judicial, academic and public scrutiny for some time. However, often missing from these discussions are the perspectives of the military personnel tasked with ensuring operations are planned and conducted in accordance with law and policy. Drawing on his experience in Afghanistan, General Sir Nicholas Carter, the Chief of the General Staff of the UK Army, will illustrate some of the ethical issues and conundrums that present themselves in armed conflict and offer his insights on the role and relevance of human rights during war.

GENERAL SIR NICHOLAS PATRICK CARTER KCB CBE DSO ADC Gen

Nick Carter joined the Army in 1977 as an 18 year old and joined The Royal Green Jackets, an infantry regiment. During his early career he served in Germany during the Cold War, in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, in Cyprus with the UN and in command of a battalion in Bosnia and Kosovo. Latterly he has had tours of duty in Iraq as a brigade commander in 2003/4 and repeated tours of Afghanistan between 2002 and 2013. He was responsible on his first tour for the initial design of Provincial Reconstruction Teams and the Afghan National Army. He commanded 55,000 NATO troops in Regional Command South during the Afghan ‘surge’ and in his last tour led the transition process with the now President Ghani as the Deputy Commander of the NATO mission.

Between these deployments he has had appointments in personnel policy and training, running the Army’s Resources and Programme, as the Director of Land Warfare, and he was responsible for leading the team that reorganised the Army following the 2010 Security and Defence Review – what is known as Army 2020.

He has been the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army since 2014 and led the Army through the most recent Security and Defence Review in 2015.